Movie Info

RATING:

GENRE:

STARRING:

DIRECTOR/WRITER:

David S. Goyer

DISTRIBUTOR:

New Line Cinema

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MOVIE
REVIEW

'Blade: Trinity'

By Jerry Langford
Reviewer, MovieGuide Magazine

CBN.com
-Blade: Trinity is the third feature from the popular comic-book-turned-movie-franchise
series. Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) is the central, conflicted hero who
is half-vampire and half-man. This gives him super strength, fighting abilities
and a vengeance to rid the world of evil vampires. Blade partners with his
aging human sidekick, Whistler (played by Kris Kristofferson) and uses a vampire
vaccine so that he can fight the vampire underworld and its demonic hierarchy.

Blade: Trinity, Blade teams up with a younger generation of human
fighters known as Nightstalkers (not exactly an original name). Whistler’s
illegitimate daughter, Abigail (played by Jessica Biel), and a former vampire
named King (played by Ryan Reynolds) rescue Blade after he is arrested for
the murder of a human. The human turns out to be “a familiar,”
a human in alliance with the evil plans of the vampire underworld.

Blade learns that the vampires have awakened the first and original vampire
from his centuries-old slumber. Named Drake (for Dracula), this vampire is
described as “born perfect” and nearly all-powerful, though his
vampire origins are left intentionally vague. Initially perturbed by the fact
that they even woke him, Drake decides to help the band of vampires destroy
their arch-nemesis, Blade. Gun-battles, sword-fights and roof-jumping chases
lead up to the climactic fight between the two powerful characters. The humans
have created a mutant virus strain which, when injected into the evil Drake,
will destroy the creature and cause a death vapor to kill any vampires in
the area at the time. However, they only have enough virus potion for one
injection, only one shot at the creature’s destruction. The humans are
also concerned that the virus death-cloud will take Blade’s life in
the process.

All this probably sounded great on script and storyboard, but Blade:
Trinity is a disappointment of epic and comic book proportions. There
are several reasons for this failure, but the obvious ones are these –
the movie’s director, its Villain and the unoriginal ideas in the story.

David S. Goyer wrote all three Blade stories, and Blade 2
was one of those few sequels that turn out to be far better than its predecessor.
This, however, is Goyer’s first time to direct a Blade movie and the
awful, uninspired results probably can be credited to him. To be fair, Goyer’s
bio says he went from Generator Operator (on 2002’s Insomnia)
to director of Blade: Trinity practically overnight. So Blade: Trinity
is further proof that a talented writer does not necessarily guarantee a capable
director.

Consequently, this third movie is plagued with experimental split screens
and long scenes of characters preparing hardware, weaponry and dressing in
the latest (and fashionable) fighting gear. The driving soundtrack is ramped
up to jarring levels during fight scenes to make them seem more interesting.
Unfortunately, even that feeble attempt cannot hide a bad story.

Drake as the all-powerful villain of Blade: Trinity is one of the
most boring, wimpy and unbelievable villains in some time. Most action and
science fiction movies, as true fans will tell you, are nearly entirely dependent
upon a great villain. Fans will recall movies like Aliens, Stargate
and Predator as having villains which are a genuine threat to the
protagonists. In fact, Blade 2 was so successful because the villains (vampires-turned-zombie
creatures) terrified vampires and humans alike. This movie, however, shows
the villain running away from Blade in the middle of the story! This silly
scene defuses any notion of a real threat when the all-powerful villain runs
away from the hero. Dominic Purcell portrays Drake, and he is about as frightening
as an out-of-work actor. Goyer tries to help by giving Drake a booming voice
once in awhile, but this just makes him laughable.

Finally, Blade: Trinity is just a re-hash of so many other movies
before it. Action movie fans will recognize borrowed characters and choreographed
scenes from television shows and more successful movies.

It is possible that Blade: Trinity only has one or two original
ideas in it. Audiences will be entertained to some extent, but those nagging
we’ve-seen-all-this-before thoughts will bother you throughout the movie.

Snipes looks menacing enough as Blade, but he lacks the energy and credibility
he once delivered to this role. He will probably think twice before returning
to this franchise. Kristofferson (at 68) barely gets through his part as Whistler.
His age is showing and his raspy voice is going fast. It is sad to watch this
fine actor go out this way.

As vampire movies go, Blade: Trinity, of course, contains an excessive
amount of “cartoon” violence. The villains are not human, so the
violence remains surreal or hyper-real, and not seemingly as offensive as
some historical war movies. Even so, Goyer arranges for Blade and Whistler
to shoot, kill and destroy countless humans (acting as policemen and SWAT
teams) who close in to arrest Blade. This idea flies in the face of Blade’s
commitment to kill only vampires and protect humans whenever possible. It
is yet another story problem that surfaces in this remake.

Blade: Trinity is not just a disappointment to those who may have
enjoyed Blade 2’s characters and story progression, but it
is a low-water mark for the series in that it relies heavily on coarse language
and sexual references throughout. New characters Abigail and King are clearly
an attempt to infuse new blood into an aging franchise. As the movie skews
younger, the story skews juvenile, and the mess Goyer has made cannot be fixed
with a transfusion.

NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine: For more
information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine
by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org.
Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing
parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives
and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best
at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online
subscription to its magazine version, at www.movieguide.org.
The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles
and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.